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Shoutout to the guy at the Dayton hamfest who sold me a 1998 Compaq desk for $10
I was walking the outdoor tables at the Dayton hamfest last spring and this older guy had a beige Compaq Presario tower sitting in the grass with a $10 tag on it. I almost walked past because the case had a coffee ring on top, but he popped the side panel and showed me he'd already dremeled out the drive cages to fit a 240mm radiator. I dropped a Ryzen 7 and a 3060 in it that night and it runs quieter than the glass panel case I paid $120 for. Now I stop at every dusty tower at every flea market I pass, which my wife loves. Has anyone else found their best sleeper case at a swap meet instead of online?
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valwest14d ago
That $10 tag on a case with a coffee ring is exactly the kind of thing I look for now. I grabbed a beige Gateway tower at a flea market two summers back for $15, dude swore the board was dead, turned out the power switch was just gummed up with old soda. Cleaned it with contact spray and it fired right up. The metal on those old cases is thick enough that a dremel cut for a front intake barely flexes, unlike the tin foil they use now. I run a 5800X and a 3060 in mine and the temps stay lower than my buddy's fancy mesh case with six fans in it. Half the fun is the story that comes with the case, honestly.
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